After keeping fans of the iPad Mini waiting for an update since 2021, Apple quietly announced a new version of its tiny tablet a couple of weeks ago. The new iPad Mini rounds off what’s been a busy few months for Apple and its tablet line up, with updated iPad Pro and iPad Air models launching earlier this year. We’ve been putting the new iPad Mini through its paces over the past couple of weeks – read on for our review.
We’ll start with the obvious: the new iPad Mini looks just like the last iPad Mini. That’s no bad thing, though. Apple completely refreshed the design of its smallest tablet in 2021, removing the physical home button and squaring off the corners with the launch of the iPad Mini “6”. The result was a much sleeker looking tablet that resembled the iPad Pro, and all of these design updates have been retained in 2024’s iPad Mini “7”. It features the same 8.3-inch Liquid Retina display and matching bezels as the previous model, measures 7.69-inches by 5.3-inches in height and width, and weighs the same 0.65 pounds (293 grams). The only noticeable difference between the 2021 and 2024 models is the new “iPad Mini” branding on the back of the latter, with the former simply stating “iPad”.
iPad Mini 2021 (top) compared to iPad Mini 2024 (bottom). [Photo: Felix Young]
Aside from being a slightly lighter shade of Space Grey, the only visible difference between the 2021 and 2024 (right) iPad Minis is the branding on the back. [Photo: Felix Young]
So, then, what’s changed? Well, when it comes to the new iPad Mini, it really is what’s on the inside that counts. The most notable upgrade is its new processor, with Apple opting to use its A17 Pro chipset. If this sounds familiar it’s because the A17 Pro is the same chipset found in last year’s iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, so, while recent, it isn’t actually Apple’s latest chipset. Nonetheless, it has led to considerable improvements to the device’s overall processing power. Apple says the new chip provides a speed boost of approximately “30 percent” compared to the previous model and, while we won’t quantify our experience in using it, we can say that the new iPad Mini felt noticeably smoother while running and switching between multiple apps. There was no lag while using heavier apps like Adobe’s Premiere Pro and Lightroom, either, and we’ve been happily using the Mini to edit on-the-go these past few days. We also found using famously CPU-hungry apps like Google Chrome to be effortless, even with 23 tabs open at the time of writing this. All in all, Apple’s “30 percent” claim seems spot on.
Aside from the above, the biggest improvements we could put down to the A17 Pro chip were experienced while gaming. So much so that we can summarize our thoughts as such: the new iPad Mini is the best small tablet for gaming you can buy right now. Gaming on this device is pure joy. The screen is large enough to be engaging across a range of titles and genres, reproducing colors really nicely, while the onboard stereo speakers sound good with a warm but clear and balanced tone; headphones, naturally, made for a far more immersive experience and really took things up a notch. We even found gaming outside to be pleasantly surprising, too, despite the device achieving a maximum brightness of 500 nits, and the iPad’s LCD display holds up quite well in the afternoon light of an autumn day. Generally speaking, the LCD screen performed to or above our expectations, even if we’d have preferred an OLED display (maybe next time, Apple?). That said, even without an OLED display and the benefits you’d typically get from OLED (such as deep blacks and greater contrast) missing, this wasn’t very noticeable – this is likely down to its size, wherein the screen is just small enough to get away with it for most use cases.
You can expect a consistent 60 frames per second on Call of Duty: Mobile, thanks to the iPad’s upgraded processor. [Photo: Felix Young]
Among the games we tested on this new iPad Mini were first-person shooters like Call of Duty: Mobile, which really maximized the display’s 60Hz refresh rate and provided a buttery smooth 60 frames per second consistently, as well Alien: Isolation, a much slower and more atmospheric experience that allowed us to see what the iPad Mini’s LCD display could do with darker environments. Both games were incredibly fun to play on the 8.3-inch display, especially when paired with this telescoping controller by GameSir, and it felt like we’d just invented a new handheld console. Mobile gaming has come a long way in the last few years and, until recently, it felt like Apple didn’t take gaming on its devices too seriously; the Android platform has always offered a much larger library of mobile games, but with the performance potential of the new iPad Mini we expect to see more developers working on Apple ports of their games; so, while we’re happy to say this 2024 iPad Mini is the best small tablet you can get for gaming, it comes with the caveat that this is limited by the library available to you in the Apple App Store.
Apple has also doubled the RAM in the new iPad Mini, which now comes with 8GB instead of the 4GB found in the previous model. This, together with the new and improved processor, has made performance better across the board, but one of the main reasons for this increased RAM is something we were unable to fully put to the test – Apple Intelligence, the brand’s venture into the AI space. While Apple Intelligence has began to roll out in the US, it doesn’t fully arrive in the UK until December and we’ve been reviewing the new iPad Mini out of our London office.
The new iPads now come with 128GB of storage as standard, double the 64GB found in the previous generation, with 256GB and 512GB being the other two options – this is a welcomed change given how quickly 64GB fills up. Another improvement made is the inclusion of Wi-Fi 6E (versus Wi-Fi 6) for a faster and more stable connection, which brings the iPad Mini up to par with the flagship iPad Pro M4. On the flip side, a connectivity-related change we would reverse if we could is the removal of the SIM card tray on the cellular model, meaning the iPad Mini can now only use eSIMs. While this is likely to frustrate only a tiny proportion of readers (given most cellular companies have moved to eSIM), one of the things that made the 2021 iPad Mini a great travel tablet was its ability to accept physical SIMs – you could take it on holiday, purchase a temporary local plan, and be connected for your stay – which may be more difficult now given that most “pay as you go” or “SIM only” plans are generally available as traditional physical SIM cards.
The iPad Mini is now compatible with Pencil Pro. [Photo: Felix Young]
Apple’s tiniest tablet is now compatible with its Pencil Pro, and its advanced features feel right at home on this smaller screen. Editing in Photoshop and Lightroom, for example, feels more intuitive thanks to the Pencil Pro’s hover functionality that allowsyou to see an on screen preview of where your stylus will touch down. We found it was most effective when smaller and more detailed edits were called for, such as while retouching imagery, and while the new Mini is still compatible with the old Pencil, we probably couldn’t go back.
There isn’t too much to say about the iPad Mini’s cameras: they are pretty basic, but do their job. There is one on the back, a 12-megapixel wide camera, and one on the front, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide selfie camera. Both are perfectly capable of capturing every day content and work well for video calling, but don’t expect the same results you’d get with, say, Apple’s latest iPhone 16 Pro. A slight annoyance is the placement of the front-facing camera which remains at the center of the short side of the tablet; this is fine for calls made in portrait, but if you were hoping to use this iPad to take calls in a more laptop-like landscape orientation, you’ll have to make do with the slightly awkward angle this camera placement throws up. The iPad Mini does have Center Stage, though, Apple’s software that uses AI to center you within the frame, and this slightly alleviates the issue.
The iPad Mini is both one of the more niche products in Apple’s current lineup, and one of the most underrated. It’s too small for some and doesn’t pack enough processing power for others. But it fills a gap in the market and no other tablet at this size comes close in terms of performance and build quality. Although, overall, the changes between the new iPad Mini and the one that came before it (2021) aren’t many, they are substantial enough to make a difference where it matters: double the RAM, double the base-level storage, a considerable bump in processing power, faster Wi-Fi, Pencil Pro compatibility, and the introduction of Apple Intelligence. It’s not an iPad for everyone, but it’s probably the funnest.
The new iPad Mini is available now in four colors, including two new ones in blue and purple, and three storage options starting at $499 USD.
